


Considerably Interested

by Violsva



Series: A Few Acres of Pine Trees and Snow [1]
Category: Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms, Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canada, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Race Changes, Book: A Study in Scarlet, Canada, First Meetings, Gen, Genderswap, Toronto
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-16
Updated: 2015-01-16
Packaged: 2018-03-07 20:37:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3182333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Violsva/pseuds/Violsva
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's a new start, and somewhere hardly anyone knows her, and she might as well try it, right?</p><p>Jane Wang moves to Toronto, and meets someone new.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Considerably Interested

**Author's Note:**

> Gorgeous fanart [here](http://violsva.tumblr.com/post/87606308438/sarah-the-artistes-artblog-i-read-this-totally).

_January 2011_

I knew Toronto was a stupid idea.

But it’s not like rent is any cheaper in Vancouver, anyway, and the alternative was another night in my alcoholic brother’s basement, and more pity, and more flinching every time I saw an ambulance or heard a car backfire.

So the earliest possible day after the holiday season I moved all my stuff from Harry’s basement into two suitcases and a carry on. It wasn’t hard, since I’d just moved it all into the suburbs three months earlier after getting kicked out of my apartment.

That isn’t fair to my ex, but I didn’t feel like being fair then.

But I probably would have just spent a couple weeks in the hostel and then moved somewhere cheaper to look for work if it hadn’t been for Matt. Ten years ago I would never have believed I would ever thank Matt Stamford for anything. But even former creeps are a relief when everyone else you know is on the other side of the continent pitying you.

My phone had just gone off in the streetcar. I fumbled for it, conscious of the annoyed stares around me, and at last got it out of my bag. But I glanced at the screen before accepting it.

_Harry._

I let the beeping go on for a few more seconds before I tapped the red button and shoved the device back in my bag, staring determinedly forward again. Even though if he was calling now he was likely to be sober.

“Um ... Jane? Jane Wang?”

I glanced up. Blond, smiling, subtract ten years -

“Matt! It’s Matt, right?”

He grinned in relief. “Yeah. I haven’t seen you in nearly ten years. You went to med school at UBC, right?”

“Yeah. Um, you were in computer science, right?”

“Yeah. I’m teaching at the University, now. What brings you to Toronto?”

“I’m thinking of going back to school. I, uh, dropped out of med school to become a paramedic.”

“Oh, interesting. How’s that?”

“It was great, I loved it, but it’s not really the kind of thing you can do your entire life.” Especially after getting shot on duty.

“Yeah, I guess. Uh, it’s almost my stop, I was just going to a pub. Are you busy or can I buy you a drink?”

Dealing with conversation or sitting in a hostel room staring at the wall. “Sure, why not?”

The bar was surprisingly decent, as far as establishments frequented and mostly staffed by university students went. I kept the conversation on Matt’s work and laughed in the right places.

“So when’d you get here?” he asked eventually.

“Just after New Year’s. Now I’m trying to find a decent apartment that doesn’t cost a fortune.”

“Oh,” he said. “You know, you’re the second person who’s said that to me today.”

“Really? Who was the other?”

“One of my students. She’s found a place, actually, she’s just looking for a roommate.”

“Oh, really? Could you give me her number?”

“Well, I could, but I could just take you to meet her. She’ll be in the lab right now, she spends days there sometimes. It’s just up the street.”

“Sure, okay.”

We walked down the street, squinting against the sun. This much sun in winter, I’d forgotten that about Toronto. Also that it got this _cold_. “So what’s she like?”

“Shirley Ho? Well, she’s kind of – strange. She gets really obsessed with her work, but doesn’t care too much about grades.”

“You mean she’s a partier?”

“Oh, no way. Nothing like that. Very quiet and not social at all, so far as I know.”

“That’s good. I’m not twenty any more.”

“Don’t we all wish we were, eh?”

“...Yeah. She’s an undergraduate?”

“Well, kind of a graduate student. She’s been here for years and keeps changing her focus. She’s an international student from China, so you’ll have that in common.”

“I’ve never been to China in my life, Matt.”

“Oh.”

He was quiet for a minute, then said, “Don’t blame me if it doesn’t work out, eh? I mean, fair warning, she’s kind of weird.”

“Weird?”

“Yeah. Her idea of experiments is, she’ll probably be perfectly happy sticking a Trojan horse on your laptop just to see the effects close up. Or, okay, maybe her own first. She’s all about first hand knowledge.”

“Huh. Well, I guess that’s good in a scientist,” I joked, because he must have been joking too.

“She takes it to extremes, trust me. Here we are.”

He pulled open the door of the building for me – one of the new impressive modernist ones that hadn’t been around when I was there. I followed him down the mostly empty halls. Beginning of term – no one hanging around after classes yet.

Double doors, with rows of computers visible through their windows. Matt pulled one open and waved me through.

There was only one student in the lab, and for a second I thought it was the wrong room. But the student straightened up and turned, grinning like she’d just won the lottery, and I saw that it was a woman, just a very tall, short haired one.

“I’ve _got_ it!” she said, crossing the room. “I’ve got it, I’ve got it, I’ve _got_ it!”

“Hi, Shirley,” said Matt.

“Hi. I’ve got a new method to backtrack through proxy servers to users’ IP addresses!”

“Really? Look, show it to me in a minute. Shirley, this is Jane Wang, a friend of mine from undergrad. She’s just moved back to Toronto. Jane -”

“Xu-lai Ho,” said the student. “Nice to meet you. Ex-paramedic?” She had no accent at all.

“How did you know that?”

“Come look at this.” She grabbed my arm and pulled me to the desk, waving Matt along as well. “It’ll chase down the signal through redirects and then access the proxy servers’ own information storage -”

She kept talking, but it was all straight over my head. So of course at the end of the monologue she turned to me, instead of Matt, and said, “Isn’t this _great_?”

“Um, sure? This is something to do with Anonymous and WikiLeaks, right?” I knew I sounded stupid, but it was all I knew about hacking.

“WikiLeaks isn’t the point – who cares about that, this is about cryptography! If I can get into here I can find _anyone_! Most people don’t even think they keep _records_ , and I’ve _done_ it!”

“That’s great.”

“It really is,” said Matt, but he smiled with sympathy at me. “But we were actually here because Jane’s looking for an apartment, and you said you wanted a roommate.”

“Oh, right.” She turned around in the chair. “Yes, I’ve seen this two bedroom apartment, near the subway. It’s excellent, really. But I smoke when I’m thinking – would you mind?”

“Uh, no, not really.”

“And I’ve got lots of computers, they take up space. And I get these moods where I lie around and don’t talk to people. Don’t get offended if it happens. What about you?”

“What about me?”

She grinned. “What would make _you_ a terrible roommate?”

I laughed. “I’m up at weird hours, since I’m used to shift work, and I, um, don’t like loud noises.”

“What about violin playing?”

“Violins? No, that’s fine. I meant sudden noises.”

“Excellent. Give me your phone.”

She typed her number in to it, saying, “It’s 221 Baker Street, near Ossington Station. See you tomorrow at noon?”

“Sure.”

“Great.” She handed me my phone back, said, “Thanks, Professor Stamford,” and turned back to the monitor.

Halfway out of the building I turned back to Matt. “How did she know I was a paramedic?” He hadn’t had time to tell her first.

He grinned. “She knows all kinds of things. So long as they aren’t related to showing up to class. No one knows how.”

“Huh. Mystery, eh? I’ll study her, then.”

“More likely she’ll study you.” He held the door for me again. “So, look,” he said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a pencil and a business card, “here’s my cell number if you need anything. Call me, we can go out for coffee...” He scribbled on the back of the card.

“Um. Look, Matt, I just got out of a really bad relationship, and I’m not interested in starting anything new, okay?”

“Sure, but, you know, here’s my number anyway.”

“Right. Well. I’ll just get back, um, home.”


End file.
